International (MNN) — After the pandemic last year brought major shutdowns and changes worldwide, Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) was worried the number of people willing to serve on the mission field would drop.
However, that’s not what happened. In fact, MAF’s department manager of mobilization Crissie Rask says, “We had almost twice as many people that interviewed and did technical evaluations last year as the previous year. And only God could have done that to move in people’s hearts during an uncertain time to take a step forward even when there were so many restrictions.
“There’s a seriousness about people about what life is about and a focus on the intentionality of engaging in what God has for them and stepping forward in faith during this time.”
(Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)
It’s a good thing too because MAF’s aviation services to remote areas are needed now more than ever.
“If you can imagine, people in more isolated circumstances have even more drastic needs — and the needs that they had or the reasons that we were there to serve them have not gone away,” Rask says.
“We have been very involved in flying supplies for testing and coronavirus-related medical situations. But of course, there still remain the basic things that we fly for in flying for churches, flying for missionaries and pastors and school children and normal everyday things of life that are unobtainable in many places without the services of MAF.”
MAF is still looking to fill various positions both on and off the mission field this year.
Rask explains, “We hope to recruit six more field support specialists and they would be in the role of a bit broader, but an IT help desk type of person that could operate overseas and even help with hardware things.
“And the other is teachers. Our staff families live, I like to say, on the edge of isolation. We may be in a city or a town but often there are not adequate educational opportunities for their children. And we live as families in those communities. But not every family, especially living in a place that doesn’t have sports teams and libraries and English, wants to homeschool.
(Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)
“So to bring a skilled teacher that will love children and be another influence in their life as well as teach academically and prepare them for their lives going forward, it’s a huge part of our teams overseas. So we’re looking for a couple more teachers…that would have some maturity and experience and be able to go to some places that people might consider difficult.”
Other roles include pilots, mechanics, and more. Click here to see the full list of ways to serve with MAF!
Finally, please pray for MAF teams this year. Everything they do is to ultimately proclaim God’s name in remote and hard-to-reach areas of the world.
Ask God to bring the right people to join MAF this year. Pray for the communities they serve to know the truth and love of Christ.
Header photo depicts a view of Papua, Indonesia from the window of an MAF plane. (Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)
